


Midnight Talks and Morning Chats

by ii_Digestive_Reader_ii



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Episode: s03e16 The Southern Raiders, Episode: s03e17 The Ember Island Players, F/M, Gen, Post-Episode: s03e14-15 The Boiling Rock, Post-Episode: s03e18-21 Sozin's Comet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29140080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ii_Digestive_Reader_ii/pseuds/ii_Digestive_Reader_ii
Summary: A series of moments about a certain warrior from Kyoshi Island.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 29





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

-

She was used to the sounds of screams, of people crying and sometimes laughing because you couldn’t break the human spirit and guards walking and yelling and and and -

Not this. Not this quiet. Not the quiet, deep breathing of those around her. The soft winds, the crackle of the fire on the platform everyone always congregated on to sleep. The sleeping mat was softer than the rags that she was used to sleeping on - and it certainly helped that her boyfriend had his arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly like he feared that she was a figment of his imagination. 

A heavy sigh left her as she tried to relax her muscles. She was used to being on edge, leery of everyone around her. Afraid that Azula would come around just to torture her for the hell of it, or the guards would ask and ask and drip water of her head excessively for hours in an attempt to reveal information about the Avatar.

Ha. Like they could get her to crack, even if she did know more than she let on. Sokka had known the possibility of the letters they had sent across the world to each other could fall into the wrong hands. He had developed a code to discuss things with her, to ask for her opinion on various things like the early stages of the invasion, over the six months they had started exchanging letters. 

Maybe if she had been half as smart as Sokka was she wouldn’t have so many scars from being a smartass.

Squeezing her eyes shut for a moment, Suki gently pushed his arm away and stood. She wasn’t used to sleeping with a man… she never had, even as innocent as they were.

“Do you want some tea?”

Suki glanced over to the fire, a bit surprised at the quiet voice. With a nod she moved, wishing that someone in their camp had some spare clothes instead of the threads she had worn for months. “I thought Zuko was keeping a lookout?”

Hakoda gave a small smile, handing her a teacup. He gestured to a pallet beside Toph some meters over. Zuko was fast asleep near Toph, curled on his side covered in a blanket. His face was shadowed by the flames, giving him an aged look. “I couldn’t sleep - he needs his rest. You all do. You kids shouldn’t be fighting our war, suffering our consequences.”

She said nothing, breathing in the steam before taking a sip. The flavor was strong, stronger than her tongue and stomach were used too. 

“I never got to thank you, Suki.”

“For?” she asked, staring at the flames. If she looked to long she was reminded of Azula -

“For capturing the warden. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Suki nodded, taking another sip of the tea. “I should have killed him in the gondola. People like him don’t deserve to exist.”

Hakoda laughed, trying to stifle quickly before waking anyone up. She raised her eyebrows curiously, feeling her hackles raise a bit. Being laughed at was not something she was a fan of. It happened often enough when people realized she was half Fire-Nation, half Earth-Kingdom. “Sokka chose well. I couldn’t be prouder.”

“He’s a good man. I can’t imagine the world he keeps creating and recreating in his mind,” she whispered, staring at the curled form of her boyfriend just beyond the fire’s glow. “You raised him well.”

“How’d you two meet?”

“Oh…I captured him, Katara, and Aang with my girls. Nearly threw him into the river to be eaten by a cannibal sea creature for being a sexist jerk. Beat him up and then we got along afterwards. Oh, and Zuko burned down my village.”

Hakoda stared at her open-mouthed, trying to comprehend what he was just told. It took him some seconds for him to realize she was serious, and then he shook his head in amazement. “You know, in Chameleon Bay, Sokka only mentioned that he had a beautiful girlfriend that could kick his ass without breaking a sweat. He was true on both accounts.”

She never had believed herself to be beautiful. Warriors weren’t beautiful. They were dangerous and meant to be feared. 

How could a team of fifteen to eighteen year olds be warriors?

“Thank you Hakoda.” Suki knew how to bow Earth Kingdom style, and went to do so before hesitating. She didn’t know what he expected. 

Hakoda smiled gently, placing her cup on the ground gently and reaching out and gently grasping just above the elbow. She did the same to his arm, smiling a bit at the new piece of knowledge how to greet a Water Tribe warrior. 

They finished the rest of the tea in silence, feeling the wind come through the valley and relieve the oppressing Fire Nation heat and humidity for a moment. 

Suki walked quietly to the ancient bathroom just beyond their camp, through a few winding hallways. She could feel the energy in the halls, the lack of life and joy and people. It made her infuriated, how one country could destroy another. 

It made her wonder if the other nations had lost sight of their reason to fight the Fire Nation. To avenge the slaughtered Air Nomads. 

When she returned, Hakoda was whittling something with a small knife Zuko had loaned him. 

Suki laid back down, smiling a bit when arms immediately wrapped around her. She leaned her head against his chest, one leg draping over his. 

“Where’d you go?” Sokka muttered groggily, one hand lazily sliding under her shirt. Neither of them mentioned the mess of puckered scars on her back. 

“Couldn’t sleep. Talked to your dad for a bit.”

“Yeah?”

“I have so much dirt on you now.” Suki snickered at the huff in her hair. Even with the impending doom of Sozin’s Comet only a few weeks away, this was nice…it was so nice to be in relative safety. 

For now.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Suki shouldn’t have been surprised when her boyfriend grabbed her hand and led her onto Appa, amidst the explosions created by her royal bitchiness, Azula herself.

She wasn’t used to being valued as a person, a partner, a friend. Usually she was just a fighter, a leader, someone who had authority and slept in the dojo most nights instead of using her childhood home.

Sokka helped her onto Appa, glancing everywhere and doing mental checks for all to their supplies. She had heard in the brief few days at the Western Air Temple that there had been times where the gang had been ambushed and they had to replace their belongings or abandon camp and only taking their weapons.

Damn he looked good with his hair down.

She had never flown on Appa, much less while watching Zuko fight his sister and wondering how everything would pan out. 

She felt sick, exposed to the wind like that, wondering where the rest of the members of their camp would go. If they’d be safe. The feeling to vomit increased tenfold when Zuko landed on the saddle and they watched with baited breath as the Crown Princess survived the fall and clung to the side of the Western Air Temple with just her headpiece. 

No one said anything. Waited. Watching for signs of being followed. Still bleary from sleep but high on adrenaline.

“She’s a monster,” Suki whispered while she felt Momo crawl from Aang to her, settling on her lap. She stroked his ears absently.

“You don’t even know the half of it,” Zuko responded. 

Suki raised her eyes to meet his, glaring at him coldly. Everyone turned their heads, suddenly aware of the tension. Like they were just registering that Suki had been in prison for months…possibly keeping them alive, since she knew every whereabout of theirs until they were in Ba Sing Se. She kept it private…and knew the whereabouts of all of their allies, even though at the time those allies were just friends.

Like they were finally registering that she had been tortured and manipulated for months by someone that made Ozai look like a folklore villain.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Toph finally exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “Some of us are blind here!”

Zuko sighed deeply, looking down at his hands. “I can’t apologize for my sister, but I can apologize for destroying your village. I’m truly sorry for that. I was an angry, irrational person hellbent on completing an impossible task. I didn’t see the path of destruction I created in my path.”

Katara rolled her eyes, turning around and beginning to do her hair up for the day. 

Suki nodded, giving a small smile at the apology. Momo chattered, calming down again as the tension eased again. 

“…where should we fly too?” Aang asked, looking around. A faint blush creeped onto his cheeks. “I…don’t really know the Fire Nation well enough any more. I can think of a few islands, but I’m not so sure - Zuko?“

“…why are you all looking at me?”

Toph shook her head in disbelief. “Well, you’re the resident of Evil Nation. You tell us what’s safe.”

“I haven’t lived here in three years, nearly four! How should I - “

“Just pick a spot Zuko,” Katara snapped, flipping her braid off her shoulder and nearly smacking her brother with it. “We don’t have all day.”

Suki cleared her throat a little, sitting straight. “Azula will be following us - or at the very least, having spies out for us…and from what I heard in prison, she has the Dai Li on her side. They’re probably scouring the countryside for us. Where would she not think to look…or better yet, is there a place that holds trauma for both of you? Somewhere she avoids?”

Everyone stared at her, probably a little horrified. Well, maybe only Aang and Katara were horrified. Toph and Zuko seemed delighted by her dark reasoning, while Sokka -

Sokka kissed her full on the lips, muttering, “Spirits, you’re terrifying.”

Zuko nodded after a moment, grinning a little. “Actually, yes…Ember Island. My family had a vacation home there. Still does, technically…we can camp in the countryside for the day, fly there at night so no one sees us.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aang said cheerfully. “Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki - you guys comfortable with that?”

“Whatever doesn’t get us blown up,” Toph muttered. “I could use a beach.”

Sokka shrugged. “Sure, why not? When has anything bad happened to us before?”

Katara nodded, though she didn’t say anything.

“…one problem Aang,” Suki ventured hesitantly. She still wasn’t used to voicing her opinion. “I’m…kind of still in prison clothes. If I were to set foot in a town, someone is bound to recognize I’m a fugitive.”

Aang thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers together with a grin. “We still have a ton of money from when Toph and Sokka scammed that town. If you take one of our cloaks you and Sokka could buy some clothes and supplies at the nearest town. Problem solved!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two was posted on Tumblr awhile ago, I just didn't post it here. Chapter three is stirring in my head, I'll have it written and cross-posted soon!


	3. Chapter Three

Aang rubbed his neck sheepishly when he dismounted from Appa, looking at everyone just finishing setting up camp. “I ran into some fishermen. The nearest village is…Ember Island. The last village was abandoned and replaced by a factory about sixty years ago.”

“Meaning?…” Zuko asked, scrunching his face together. “It’s not far…”

“Meaning we have to forage for dinner, since it’s about a twelve hours away…on Appa.”

Suki finished hammering in the last notch of the tent - Sokka’s tent - her tent - their tent, she supposed - and looked at the Avatar’s guilty expression. They’d all gone hungry here and there before, a day or so on foraged food would be fine…

“Aang, don’t apologize - “ she started when he looked at her sheepishly.

“I have to. I’m so sorry you’re still wearing prison clothes.”

There was a bit of a lull, the birds and insects too loud at another mention of what she’d been through.

Katara cleared her throat, everyone glancing at her. “I’m sure we have some rice in the saddle - Aang, Zuko, you two go find some roots or vegetables. Suki, Sokka - you guys can go fishing. Toph - “

“Keep lookout, I know the drill sweetness.”

Suki raised her eyebrows at the earthbender, taking the pole that her boyfriend had passed her. “When do I get a nickname, huh?”

“We’ll get there, honey,” Toph said with a wave of her hand while she walked away.

With a shake of her head, Suki grabbed his hand and tugged him further down the shore, where the fish wouldn’t be as disturbed by their group’s movement. It was winding up to be a cool and warm evening, which was sweet relief from the humid nights and days of the Boiling Rock. It amazed her that it had only been days since being released, but it felt like a lifetime. 

They were quiet while throwing their lines, not catching any fish for some time. There was plenty of pollution in the Fire Nation waters, which was incredibly sad. She was so used to writhing rivers and ponds in the Earth Kingdom.

“Got one,” Sokka said suddenly, rolling in his line. His butt was wiggling while the fish emerged from the water, wiggling and gasping for air. “Come here, tasty tasty dinner.”

“You really are the meat and sarcasm guy.”

Sokka glared at her while he dropped the pole and bent down to unhook the fish. “Wise girl,” he muttered while tossing the fish in the basket she had woven. 

“I appreciate the nickname attempt.”

“That’s a perfectly good nickname!”

Suki bit her lip to keep from laughing, reeling in a fish and tossing it to her boyfriend. This time she really did laugh, her stomach hurting while he scrambled for the flopping fish and launched himself on the ground to keep it from bouncing back into the water. She hadn’t laughed in a long time. 

When she managed to stop laughing, she found Sokka staring at her like she was the only being in the universe. He was covered in sand and probably needed a shower from just being in the Fire Nation and sweating all the time.

“What?” she asked, feeling self-conscious.

“I love you.”

Suki blinked, unsure how to respond. Well, she knew how to respond, of course she knew, she felt the same way -

“ - sorry, that was forward. I mean, I do love you but if you’re uncomfortable I - ”

“I love you too ” Suki smiled, stepping towards him and bending down to kiss him. Grinning into the kiss, he tugged her down and pinned her to the ground, still kissing her.

“… well can I be forward now?” Suki asked when they parted, both breathless. She brushed some of the hair that had fallen out of his wolf tail. “Want to have sex tonight?”

Sokka blinked, then nodded before kissing her again. “Sure - that… that sounds great.”

… and then…

… then…

The Southern Raiders.

Neither of them were really that great at emotion. Not really.

Sokka only explained what Zuko had asked of him to her, his head on her shoulder.

She still didn’t tell him about her time in The Boiling Rock, even though that’s what people did when they were pouring their hearts out.

They distracted themselves with sex, because that’s what teenagers filled with trauma and possibly facing the end of the world in a week… right?

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing to say really - enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello There! I'm sure some of you follow me on Tumblr and ff.net, and others are just finding me. I decided to post my atla fics here, since ff.net tends to have more clone wars fandom than avatar fandom. I've already posted this on Tumblr - I'm just sharing this with more people! First two chapters already written, chapter three coming soon!
> 
> (by soon I mean, I work full time and go to school part time, it takes me some time to post things.)


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